September 5, 2003

Authenticity: you can’t fake it

Johnnie Moore

I’m Johnnie Moore, and I help people work better together

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Authenticity: you can’t fake it

Thanks (again) to John Porcaro for linking me to the Customer Evangelists’ blog where I found this:

OLD SCHOOL: Ad agency pays teen bloggers to sample soda products and faces a backlash. Doh!

The Old School example shows the trouble Dr Pepper landed in when they tried to fake the authentic chat generated by blogs.

Again and again I am reminded of Woody Allen’s ironically stated ambition to: “forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. And then see if I can get them mass-produced in plastic.”

February 2025 update

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An example of inauthentic direct mail, from Lincoln Financial Group. The elements that eat away at the credibility of the sender and the effect on this reader.

The volatile chemistry of trust

Interesting research from Stanford suggests that exciting brands get more trusted after making mistakes and putting them right whilst more “sincere” brands start with more trust but lose it more easily. Perhaps the sensible interpretation is that second-guessing customers can be a waste of time!

The individual transcends the bland…

BA stewardess Claire breaks the corporate ice and creates real engagment. Hats off to BA is their culture supports this sort of thing.

Customer-centricity: is it the answer?

Michael Hammer’s new book, The Agenda, is about the rise of customer power. But is customer-centricity really such a good model for business and society?

In praise of um… er….. deeper meaning

Once again, it turns out that what we do naturally has more value than we realise; whereas clever contrivances intended to “improve” our effectiveness often just destroy significance… and make us less well understood! A good lesson for all those presentation trainers and “image consultants” out there!

Follies of ranking

John Porcaro blogsmore evidence of the dangers of running businesses by crude interpretations of numbers… how superficial metrics can cover a rich tapestry of human

Values – ideal or real

I am blogging from my friend Thomas’s office in Essex. All around are those inspirational posters… eg “PERSISTENCE Now that we’ve exhausted all possibilities… let’s

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Authenticity: you can’t fake it

Johnnie Moore

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